Since a number of her vessels had been for some time idle for lack of crews, Maryland in the first half of 1779 sold all of her naval craft, except the galleys “Conqueror” and “Chester,” and the schooner “Dolphin.”[597] From 1780 to the end of the Revolution the trade in the Chesapeake, and the property of the inhabitants of the Maryland coasts, on both sides of the Bay, suffered severely from the ravages of the British refugee barges, privateers, and small naval craft. These conditions led Maryland to make frequent attempts, during the last years of the war, to provide a naval armament for the defence of the Bay. In 1780 she was moved to renew her naval activities by still other considerations. The success of the British this year in South and North Carolina and on the coasts of Virginia made the outlook for Maryland very threatening. It was also known that Clinton wished to carry the war into Maryland and Virginia. In October, 1780, Maryland passed her first act for the defence of the Bay. The Governor and Council were ordered to provide, officer, and man four large barges or row-boats, each to carry at least twenty-five men, one galley to be armed with two 18’s and two 9’s, and one sloop or schooner to carry ten 4’s. They were to enlist one hundred marines for three years. The marines were to be paid £2, 5s. a month and a bounty of $40, and the seamen £3 a month and a bounty of $20.[598] During the May session of the legislature in 1781, just after Arnold’s invasion into Virginia, this act was amended. The Governor and Council were now directed to procure two galleys and a number of barges not to exceed eight.[599] In passing, mention should be made of the service which Maryland rendered the Continental army in 1781, in transporting troops. When, in the spring of that year, Lafayette and his army were on their way to Virginia to attempt the capture of Arnold, Maryland impressed upwards of one hundred transports, together with three small armed vessels, which she placed under the command of Captain James Nicholson. This fleet carried a large part of Lafayette’s troops, stores, guns, and baggage from the head of Elk to Annapolis. In August and September the state rendered similar aid to Washington’s army, which was then on its way to Yorktown. Every vessel in the state was pressed into service.[600] During the last year of the war the British were especially annoying to the trade and coasts of Maryland and Virginia. Fifteen or twenty small craft which made their headquarters on the islands in the Chesapeake were very destructive, and their depredations called forth protective measures not only in Maryland, but in Virginia, as we have seen. In each state private initiative did what it could to stop the pillaging, but it was not able to cope with the enemy.